


Man I Love College

by sam_writes_fics



Category: The West Wing
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, F/M, it's my first attempt at an au so bare with me, listen they're adolescent nerds okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29743068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sam_writes_fics/pseuds/sam_writes_fics
Summary: College AU. Shenanigans ensue.Title inspired by the song I Love College by Asher Roth
Relationships: Danny Concannon/C. J. Cregg, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 17
Kudos: 35





	1. Move In Day

**Author's Note:**

> **not my characters, I just love writing them**

“No.”

“Toby-”

“No, Sam, I’m not fourteen anymore.”

“But it will drastically increase the space in this room!”

“I don’t care.”

Sam Seaborn and Toby Ziegler were not the most likely of roommates. Sam was a sophomore and Toby was a junior. They met last year in their Intro to English Literature class, and Toby quickly realized that Sam was the only one in their program who had a decent writing style. They worked together on every group project, and spent most nights doing homework, studying, or writing together.

As much as Toby couldn’t stand Sam’s optimism and cheery disposition, he realized that if those habits were to continue into this year, it only made sense for them to room together.

“Toby, just hear me out-”

“Hey!” A voice from the hall shouted. “Sam!”

The two roommates turned towards their open door.

“Josh!” Sam yelled back.

The two boys met in the doorway and shared a hug after not seeing each other all summer.

Josh Lyman was Sam’s best friend. The pair met last year at freshman orientation where they were put into the same group because they were both on the Pre-Law track. They became fast friends on that two-day excursion, and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

“Hey Toby,” Josh greeted the other man.

“Hey Josh,” Toby greeted back, “how’s the family?”

“They’re fine, how’s yours?”

“David’s dying to graduate high school so he can get out of that house,” Toby laughed, “but other than that they’re good.”

Josh and Toby became friends last year through Sam. They almost never saw eye to eye on things, but that never stopped them from talking about whatever it was they were disagreeing on. With Josh in Connecticut and Toby in New York for the summer, they were the closest two of their whole group. They took the train to see each other a few times while they were home, and Sam was happy to see that it seemed to have brought the two friends a little closer.

“Are you living with Danny again this year?” Toby asked.

“Yeah, we’re in the room right across the hall!” Josh answered with a full smile.

“No way,” Sam responded as he peeked his head outside the doorway to examine this new discovery. “Wow. This is incredible!”

“It’s gonna be way better than trekking all the way here from Morgan every night,” Josh agreed.

Morgan Hall was the dorm that belonged to the freshman Honors Program. Josh and Danny lived there together last year, and they enjoyed it for the most part. The only part that sucked was that Morgan Hall was on the complete opposite side of campus than the rest of the dorms.

Sam lived in O’Brien Hall last year (and that’s where they all were living now), and they had the best study rooms on campus scattered throughout the building, so Josh and Danny made the journey across campus quite frequently to hang out with their friends.

Toby lived in Fox Hall the year before, but it was only half a block from O’Brien, so this wasn’t a huge change for him.

“Is Danny here yet?” Toby asked.

“His stuff’s in our room so he’s around here somewhere.”

“He probably went looking for CJ,” Toby guessed

“Isn’t she helping with move-in day?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, she is,” Josh answered. “I ran into her on the first floor, she said she was gonna be in the staff office all day handing out room keys and checking people in.”

CJ Cregg and Danny Concannon were the other two members of the friend group.

Danny and Josh share the pleasure of being Political Science majors, so they were paired together for housing last year and they get along well. They’re in a lot of the same classes, even though Josh is on the Pre-Law track while Danny took up a second major in Journalism.

CJ is a junior like Toby and the two met their freshman year in their Intro to Communications class. They became fast friends, and they’ve been thick as thieves ever since.

CJ is one of the more well-known students on campus (unlike her friends) because of her status as an RA and as a student athlete. She’s the starting keeper for the women’s soccer team, her height and long limbs being a big asset in the net, and she loves playing in the university’s stadium. She’s also an RA in O’Brien this year (same as last year), but thankfully her residents do not include the guys.

“I guess I can assume that they made it through the summer then?” Toby asked.

“Yeah,” Josh responded, “they’re still together.”

“I heard he drove all the way to Cleveland to spend the Fourth of July with her and her family,” Sam added.

“Sounds like Danny,” Josh smiled. “He’s crazy about her.”

“Remind me to make fun of him for that later,” Toby added.

“Speaking of later,” Josh started, “I gotta go finish unpacking, but do you guys wanna watch a movie or something later?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sam smiled.

“Fine,” Toby grumbled, “but there better be popcorn.”

Josh laughed. “Fine.”

With that, Josh went back across the hall to put away the rest of his belongings, and Toby and Sam went back to their earlier conversation.

“Toby, just listen to me for a second.”

“No.”

“But think of the space!”

“Still no.”

“Toby-”

“Sam, we’re not doing bunk beds!”

*

A few hours and one set of bunk beds later, everyone was finally settled in their new residences for the coming semester.

The dorm was actually surprisingly quiet, and Toby was taking advantage of that to get some writing done while Sam was attempting (and failing) to get his bedding on his top bunk.

The quiet lasted for all of ten minutes before CJ burst through the door.

“Tobias! Samuel!”

“Claudia Jean,” the two men said in unison.

“I’m exhausted,” she complained as she collapsed into Sam’s desk chair. “This semester is taking the life out of me.”

“CJ, the semester doesn’t even start until tomorrow,” Sam responded as he tried to pull down the last corner of his fitted sheet.

“Maybe for you it doesn’t,” CJ threw back as she watched Sam struggle. “I’ve been here for two weeks already, sitting through full days of RA training _after_ 5am practice every day.”

The fitted sheet came loose on another corner. CJ moved to help the poor boy.

“Not to mention that I’ve barely slept the past two nights,” she added. “I was on duty until 1am two nights ago, and then last night I stayed up until 3am to finish the door decs and the bulletin board in my hallway so that this place would look it’s best for when you clowns showed up.”

“By ‘you clowns’ you mean all the residents and not just us, right?” Sam asked as they laid the comforter out over the bed.

“No, Sam, I decorated my hallway, which is on a completely different floor, just for you and Toby,” her voice dripping with sarcasm as they finished making the bed.

The sound of a beer can being opened made them both drop the conversation.

“Drink this,” Toby put the can in CJ’s hand, “and stop talking.”

“Oh Toby,” she mused as she once again sat in Sam’s desk chair, “what would I do without you?”

“I thought I told you to stop talking,” he responded.

“I’ll go get Josh and Danny,” Sam suggested, “we can all watch a movie or something.”

“See if they have any popcorn,” Toby called after him as he opened a second beer for himself.

Sam nodded as he left the room.

“Bunk beds?” CJ asked after a beat. “Seriously?”

Toby rolled his eyes. “I know.”

“How did he convince you of that?”

“There’s more room for pacing,” Toby answered as he took a sip of his drink, “it makes our writing better.”

“Ah.”

“Plus, I got the bottom bunk, so it’s not so bad.”

“I see.”

“Tobias!” Danny cheered as he walked through the door, copying CJ’s earlier greeting.

“Daniel,” Toby greeted back as they shook hands.

“Are we using full names this year or something?” Josh asked as he followed Danny into the room with an arm full of DVDs.

“God, no,” Sam answered as he brought up the rear with two bags of popcorn, “what fun would that be?”

“Danny come take a look at this,” Toby said as he held a piece of paper out towards his friend.

Danny took the paper and sat on Sam’s desk next to CJ.

“What’s he reading?” Josh asked as he climbed the bunk beds to sit on the top bunk.

“A piece for the first issue of the school paper,” Sam answered as he pushed himself up to a seat next to Josh.

“The first issue doesn’t print until next week.”

“You think that’s stopped Toby from writing articles for it all summer?”

Toby was the newly appointed Editor in Chief for the school paper. He didn’t really want a career in journalism, but he didn’t hate the idea of being an editor.

Danny, on the other hand, wanted to be a journalist more than anything. He convinced anyone and everyone that one day he’d be working in the White House press corps.

The two worked well together for the paper. Danny was probably the only journalist there that Toby trusted to read his work. Toby tried to convince Sam to join the paper too, but Sam claimed that wasn’t really his style.

“The writing is good,” Danny started, “but the story is too small. I’d go bigger with this, take a wide-angle view of the situation.”

“Hm,” Toby responded as he took the paper back and looked over it again. He instantly started making notes in the margins.

“Okay,” Josh interrupted, “someone pick a movie and hand me a beer, preferably in reverse order.”

Danny sifted through the stack of DVDs while Toby pulled the six pack out of the mini fridge and placed it on his desk. CJ grabbed two cans and walked them over to the boys on the bunk bed, and then placed another one next to Danny.

The group argued over what movie to watch for the next half hour before the conversation shifted from DVDs to summer vacation. CJ turned on the stereo in the corner on low, and they all fell into easy conversation about what they did that summer.

Sam and Josh traded stories of east coast versus west coast summers, and they laughed harder that night than they had in months. The two friends were clearly very happy to be reunited once again.

Danny told the story of how he did in fact drive all the way to Ohio in July, which Toby and Josh both mocked him for, but he didn’t care because he spent the whole night sitting next to his girlfriend who he was crazy in love with.

CJ relaxed more that night than she had in weeks, laughing and joking with her friends while sharing looks and holding hands with her boyfriend who she was also crazy in love with (but wouldn’t dare say that to anyone but him, for fear of the mockery).

Even Toby seemed to have a good time, eating most of the popcorn and sharing the occasional laugh.

As the group parted ways for the night, they made various plans to meet up the next day, going to classes together, hitting the bookstore, and combing through their syllabi later that night.

It was going to be one hell of a semester.


	2. Lightbulbs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “CJ,” Josh started slowly without turning away, “there’s a girl in your room.”
> 
> “I know,” CJ answered.

The first two weeks of the semester flew by. The group fell into an easy rhythm of schoolwork and general tom foolery. They were enjoying their sophomore year so far (even if it was tough) and definitely were having more fun than last year. Everyone had just started to fall into their routines for the semester.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when they came across something (or someone) new.

Toby and Danny were spending the afternoon with the rest of the writers for the school paper in the library, so that left Josh and Sam unsupervised.

The two boys really tried to focus on their homework, but the sunshine and the warm late summer air had them distracted. They were constantly distracting each other, and before they knew it, it was 3pm and they had gotten nothing done.

Sam was sitting on his top bunk bed, and Josh was sitting on Sam’s desk across the room. They were throwing a football back and forth and debating something they learned in one of their civics classes when Josh threw the ball just a little too high and it hit the ceiling light.

The light went out, but it didn’t look like it was broken. The long fluorescent bulb was still intact, but no matter how many times Josh flipped the light switch it wouldn’t turn back on.

“Shit,” Josh said as he finally gave up with the light switch.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed.

“What do we do now?” Josh asked.

“Now, we go find CJ.”

“CJ? Why CJ?”

“Because she always knows what to do.”

*

Three minutes later, Josh and Sam were knocking on CJ’s door.

“CJ, it’s us,” Josh called through the door.

“Push it, it’s open,” she called back.

“CJ, we have a hypothetical scenario for you,” Josh started as he pushed the door open.

“What did you do?” she asked, not looking up from her notebook.

“Us? We didn’t do anything!” Josh argued.

“We’re the poster boys for perfect residents,” Sam added with a smile.

CJ shot them a look.

“Okay, say that hypothetically two guys were throwing a football indoors-” Josh started

CJ opened her mouth to argue but Josh cut her off.

“HYPOTHETICALLY, if that football were to – I don’t know – say hit the ceiling light-”

“The hypothetical ceiling light,” Sam added.

“-right, say it hit the hypothetical ceiling light, and now the ceiling light won’t turn on, how do we-”

“Hypothetically,” Sam chimed in again.

“-yes, hypothetically how does one get that fixed without getting in trouble for breaking it in the first place?”

CJ blinked.

“Is it broken, or did it just come loose?”

Josh and Sam simultaneously turned their heads towards the voice that did not belong to CJ.

“CJ,” Josh started slowly without turning away, “there’s a girl in your room.”

“I know,” CJ answered.

Josh opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it when he realized he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Who’s your friend?” Sam asked with a smile.

CJ sighed. “Morons, this is Donna. Donna, these are the morons I call my friends.”

“Sam Seaborn,” Sam held his hand out to the girl. “Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Donna Moss,” she responded as she shook his hand.

Donna Moss was easily the most beautiful girl Josh had ever seen. She had straight blonde hair that was pulled back from her face, and she had a soft smile paired with kind eyes.

She turned to look at Josh and she absolutely took his breath away.

“I’m Josh,” he said as he snapped himself out of his daydream and shook her hand.

“Donna,” she replied with a smile, “nice to meet you.”

“Yeah,” was all Josh managed to say in return.

“Hey!” Sam said as a lightbulb went on in his head. “You’re in my philosophy class!”

“Professor Thomas’s class?” she asked as she tilted her head slightly to one side.

“Yeah, you sit in the front row, right?”

Josh thought that she looked _exactly_ like the kind of girl who sat in the front row.

“Oh yeah,” Donna said slowly. “You’re the guy who went off about Socrates last class.”

Sam looked at the floor. “Guilty.”

Neither Josh nor CJ was surprised at this information.

“I thought you made some good points,” Donna reassured him.

“Thank you,” Sam smiled at her.

She smiled back.

Josh was not a fan of this.

“Guys, I’ll put in a work order for the light tonight, and tomorrow somebody from maintenance will come take a look at it,” CJ said as she highlighted a line in her textbook.

“Thanks, CJ,” Sam replied.

Donna looked like she wanted to say something.

Josh, noticing the slight change in her demeanor, asked her about it. “What?”

“Is the bulb broken?” she asked.

“No,” he answered.

“Is the casing broken?”

“No.”

“Did the breaker trip?”

Josh blinked. He looked at Sam and Sam just shrugged.

Donna rolled her eyes and Josh thought it was adorable.

“Crap,” CJ interjected, noticing the time. “I’m gonna be late for my floor meeting.”

“Go ahead,” Donna said as she started packing up her stuff. “I’ll lock the door behind me.”

“Thanks,” CJ replied as she threw on her Residence Life hoodie. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Donna answered as she carefully folded her notes into her textbook.

“Okay,” CJ said as she practically ran out the door. “Idiot one and idiot two, stop throwing footballs inside. It’s like sixty-five degrees outside, go do it on the front lawn.”

“Yes ma’am,” the boys answered in unison.

With that, she was gone.

Donna put her last notebook in her backpack and zipped it up.

She stared at the boys and they stared back.

“Well,” she started, “let’s go.”

“Go?” Josh asked. “Where are we going?”

“To your room,” she answered.

“My _room_?” Josh questioned as his voice jumped up an octave on the second word.

Donna grinned. “Isn’t that where the broken light is?”

“No, that’s in my room,” Sam corrected.

“You guys aren’t roommates?”

“Nope,” Josh answered with a renewed sense of confidence, “just friends.”

Sam frowned. “ _Best_ friends.”

“Fine, Sam, best friends.”

Sam smiled, and they headed down the hall towards his room.

*

“Huh,” Donna mused as she examined the panel of circuit breakers.

“What?” Josh asked as he tried to look over her shoulder.

“Well, none of the breakers are tripped, so it’s not that.”

“Ah.”

Donna turned around and found Josh standing just a little bit too close. He practically jumped back when she turned, and Donna had to stifle a laugh. Instead, she chose to focus on the ceiling light.

“I wonder if the bulb is disconnected.”

“It doesn’t look disconnected.”

“Yeah, but it could’ve just been knocked slightly loose.”

“Well how can we find out?”

Donna studied the light for another moment before deciding on a plan of action.

“Sam, can I use your desk chair?”

“Knock yourself out.”

Donna pulled the chair over, so it sat directly under the light. She fished around in her backpack for a minute and pulled out a thin plastic card that looked like a Student ID.

“Can someone hold the chair steady?” she asked.

Josh practically tripped over himself trying to get there, but Sam beat him to it.

Donna stepped up on the chair and reached up towards the light fixture. She wedged the ID card between the plastic casing of the light fixture and the tile of the ceiling, and somehow managed to pop the casing open.

While she was doing this, Josh couldn’t help but notice a few things. The first was that she seemed extremely capable. Capable of what, he wasn’t exactly sure, but was willing to bet that she could do just about anything she put her mind to.

The second thing Josh noticed was that she bites her bottom lip when she’s focusing, and he found it extremely adorable.

The last thing he noticed, and this was the one he was currently focusing on, was that when she reached up towards the ceiling light, her shirt rose just slightly above the top of her jeans. It was less than half an inch of a gap, but it revealed the thinnest sliver of her pale stomach and Josh couldn’t stop staring at it.

“Josh.”

Her voice snapped him out of his daydream.

“What?” he said, slightly dazed.

Sam shot him a knowing look.

“I said ‘can you hold this?’” she repeated as she held out her ID card.

“Oh, yeah,” he faltered as he took the ID from her hand.

Donna held the casing to the light in one hand, and with her other she reached up and twisted the bulb, tightening it in its holder.

“There,” she said as she snapped the plastic casing back into place, “that should do it.”

Once again, Josh zoned out during all of this. He couldn’t help himself; he was looking at her picture on her Student ID. Staring back at him was a picture of Donna sporting a full thousand-watt smile. Josh decided it was the best smile he’d ever seen.

He was already planning in his head how he could get her to reveal it to him in person when his daydreams were once again interrupted.

“This looks like the beginning of a really bad joke,” Toby mused as he stood in the doorway.

“Toby!” Sam greeted his roommate.

“Seriously, I feel like I should be writing a ‘how many college kids does it take to change a lightbulb’ punchline.”

“Flip the light switch while you’re standing there, would ya?”

Toby flipped the light switch by the door, and the room was illuminated in the fluorescent light once again.

“Well,” Donna started as she jumped off the chair. “My work is done here.”

“Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my room?” Toby asked.

“I’m Donna Moss. I fixed your ceiling light.”

“I can see that,” Toby answered unamused.

Donna looked at her watch.

“I should get going,” she said as she threw her backpack over her shoulder. “It was nice to meet you guys.”

She looked at Josh as she said it and his heartbeat faster.

“See you in class,” Sam said with a smile, “and thanks for the help with the light.”

“No problem,” she tossed over her shoulder as she headed out the door. “See ya.”

She swung around the door frame and was then out of sight.

“Who the hell was that and what was she doing in my room?” Toby asked again.

“That’s Donna, we met her in CJ’s room earlier,” Sam answered.

“And what happened to the light?”

Sam blinked, and then turned to Josh for help.

Josh opened his mouth to answer, but then suddenly remembered that he was still holding on to Donna’s ID card.

“Hang on,” he said as he moved to the door and burst out into the hallway.

“Hey!” he called after her down the hall.

She turned around and grinned slightly. “Hey yourself.”

Josh felt his legs start to walk towards her, but his brain took another second to catch up.

“You almost forgot this,” he said as he took another look at the ID card.

He smiled to himself as he read her name one more time.

“Oh, that could’ve been bad. Thank you,” she told him as she took the card back.

“You’re welcome…”

The trademark Josh Lyman Grin came out in full force, dimples and all.

“…Donnatella.”

She blushed at the use of her full name and smiled softly at the carpet as she turned and headed out the front door.

What started out as a lazy Sunday for Josh definitely did not end that way. He spent the rest of the day thinking about the interesting girl he met that day and wondering if he would ever see her again.

Luckily for him, he didn’t have to wait too long to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is not lost on me that this chapter (not so) subtly signifies that Josh couldn't even change a lightbulb without Donna's help.


	3. Misconceptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few interactions between the friends and the new girl.

“Morning CJ,” Donna greeted as she dropped her bag next to her friend.

“Morning? It’s 5am, it’s still the middle of the night,” CJ complained.

“I don’t think we’re allowed to have practice in the middle of the night.”

“If I have to be awake before the sun has to be awake, then it’s the middle of the night.”

“Okay,” Donna replied while sitting down to put on her cleats. “How was your floor meeting last night?”

“Uneventful. I recite the standard Residence Life talking points while a bunch of 19-year-olds zone out and eat the snacks provided. I swear the only reason my residents even show up is because of the Oreos.”

“It’s definitely because of the Oreos.”

CJ finished lacing up her cleats and started to stretch. Donna did the same.

“Did dumb and dumber give you any trouble after I left last night?” CJ asked.

“No,” Donna smiled. “I helped them fix the ceiling light. They seem nice.”

“They can be sweet sometimes,” CJ admitted, “when they’re not annoying the crap out of me or getting into trouble.”

“They don’t really seem like the ‘trouble’ type,” Donna mused.

CJ shrugged. “Not really, no. They’re definitely better than most guys on campus, but they still drive me crazy most of the time.”

“The best ones always do,” Donna laughed.

CJ tilted her head slightly and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Donna took the bait.

“The one with the smile was kinda cute,” Donna admitted as her cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink.

CJ opened her mouth to respond, but just then the coach blew the whistle and practice was starting.

As the team ran its warmup laps, CJ shook her head at the thought that Donna Moss had a crush on Sam Seaborn.

*

Josh was woken up by a pillow smacking him in the face.

“Get up,” Danny’s voice floated from across the room.

Josh groaned and rolled over.

Ten seconds later a second pillow smacked him in the head.

“Danny!”

“Get up, Josh,” Danny said as his eyes never left his notebook. “I’m running out of soft things to throw at you. Next it’s gonna be my English Lit textbook.”

Josh rubbed his eyes and glanced at the alarm clock.

“Danny, it’s 8:10. The alarm doesn’t go off for another twenty minutes. Let me sleep,” he demanded as he pulled the covers over his head.

The English Lit textbook hit him in the knees instead of the head.

“Danny!” he yelled as he ripped the covers from his head.

“We drank the last of our coffee at 10:45 last night,” Danny countered.

Josh blinked.

“There’s no more coffee?”

“Not here, no. We gotta stop and get some on our way to class.”

Josh groaned again, but he managed to get himself out of bed this time.

“What are you doing up so early?” he asked.

“I woke up an hour ago with a new idea for my one of my writing assignments. Had to write it out before I forgot,” Danny answered as the pen continued to write furiously on the paper.

“What class is it for?”

“Discovering Shakespeare.”

“You had a _new_ idea about Shakespeare in the middle of the night?” Josh asked as he pulled on a fresh t-shirt.

“Yes.”

“What, did you dream you were in Hamlet?”

The pen stopped moving.

“…Romeo and Juliet.”

Danny managed to close his notebook before the pillows came flying back at his head.

Ten minutes later, Josh and Danny were in line at the campus coffee cart when Josh finally mustered up the courage to ask what was on his mind.

“Danny?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you know about CJ’s friend Donna?”

“Donna?”

“Yeah, Donna Moss. Tall, blonde, nice eyes.”

Danny shot him a look. “…Why?”

“No reason,” Josh lied as his voice rose. “I met her yesterday, she seemed nice.”

Danny didn’t buy it, but he didn’t press for more.

“Not much, I’ve only met her a few times,” he started. “She’s a smart kid. She’s a freshman, but with all of her AP credits she’s practically a junior. I think she said she was a history major, but I’m pretty sure she has like three minors so I could be getting that wrong.”

“Interesting,” Josh mused with a soft smile.

“Why is that interesting?”

“Hm?”

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m not thinking anything.”

Danny smiled. “I can practically hear the gears turning in your head. What are you thinking?”

“Danny, I’m not thinking anything!”

Before Danny could make a joke about that, the barista was asking for their order.

*

“I’m gonna kill him,” Toby mumbled as he walked out of their Oral Communication class.

“What?” Sam asked as he fell into stride with Toby.

“I swear to God, one of these days I’m just gonna reach across the table and strangle him.”

“Who?”

“Who? What do you mean who?” Toby asked incredulously. “That idiot that just gave a speech on defunding the arts.”

“Billy?” Sam asked. “Is that what his speech was about? I had a hard time following it.”

“Not only do his ideas make me want to rip my ears off, he can’t write around a point to save his life. It’s like listening to a dying cat scream for fifteen minutes straight.”

“I hear ya,” Sam agreed.

The pair turned the corner and Toby sighed. Sam knew it was a sign that he was done thinking about Billy (for now).

“Are you heading back to the room?” Toby asked.

“No,” Sam shook his head as he gestured vaguely to the lecture room down the hall. “I’ve got my philosophy class now.”

“Try not to go on any tirades about guys who died over two millennia ago.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Toby nodded and turned towards the stairwell.

The lecture hall was about halfway filled when Sam walked in. He scanned the crowd for a friendly face, not having found one in the five or six classes previous, but this time his eyes found a familiar blonde sitting in the front row.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” he asked.

“No,” Donna replied without looking up from her notebook. She wanted to finish going over her notes before class started.

He sat down next to her.

“Hi.”

Donna finally looked up.

“Hey,” she slowly replied with a smile. “I know you.”

“I’m the guy with the broken ceiling light.”

“Well, it’s not broken anymore, is it?”

“No, and I have you to thank for that.”

“No sweat,” Donna shrugged. “It’s Sam, right?”

“Yes,” Sam replied with a smile. “Mind if I sit here?”

“Not at all.”

“I don’t really know anyone else in the class.”

“Me neither,” Donna agreed, “but I guess now we know each other, right?”

Sam smiled. “I like the way you think.”

Their professor started talking and the two turned their attention towards him. After class, Donna agreed to sit together again in Wednesday’s class, but Sam made her promise they would sit in at least the second row.

*

Monday carried on uneventfully, and it was a bright and sunny Tuesday morning when Josh finally caught the break he was looking for.

He was wandering about the dining hall, debating whether to try to eat something or just drink a third cup of coffee for breakfast when he spotted CJ weaving through the masses. Her height made her easy to spot in a crowd, but what Josh was more interested in was the flash of blonde hair he swore he saw next to her.

He grabbed a bagel and another coffee and headed in their direction.

Finding them relatively easily, he shrugged off his backpack and dropped his tray down on the table.

“Good morning Claudia Jean,” he smirked.

“Die,” was all she replied as she held her head in one hand and skewered a piece of melon on her fork with the other.

“Aw, c’mon that’s no way to start the morning.”

CJ slowly lifted her head and looked him in the eye.

The smile was quickly wiped from his face and he made the wise decision not to continue teasing her.

“That’s what I thought,” she said as she went back to her fruit cup.

“Ignore her,” Donna finally spoke. “We had to run wind sprints at practice this morning.”

“I don’t understand why _I_ have to run them,” CJ added.

“They make us faster.”

“I’m the _goalie_. Why do I need to run faster?”

“Did you say _we_?” Josh asked.

“Yeah,” Donna answered.

“You’re an athlete?” his eyebrows rose slightly.

“Yes,” Donna answered with a smirk.

“What do you play?”

“Uh… soccer?” she asked incredulously.

“I figured that,” he lied. He was too busy noticing the stray hairs falling from her ponytail to really put two and two together right now. “I meant what position?”

“Midfield,” she answered.

“Do you like it?”

She grinned. “Love it.”

“That’s really cool,” he fumbled, unsure of what to say in response to that grin, “that you’re, ah, on the soccer team.”

CJ moved her head into his line of vision. “I am also on the soccer team.”

“What?” Josh asked finally breaking eye contact with Donna to look at CJ. “Oh, yeah I know, of course you are.”

He took a bite of his bagel, attempting to avoid the look CJ was giving him.

Donna had to take a long sip of her coffee to keep herself from laughing. She found his way of words (or lack thereof) charming.

“I’m an athlete too, you know,” Josh said to Donna after another minute had passed.

She was about to ask him about it when CJ cut in.

“You’re on the crew team,” she deadpanned.

“Emphasis on team, CJ.”

“It doesn’t count.”

“Why not?”

“Because technically we don’t have a crew team.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a club team.”

“So?”

“So, we play Division II soccer and you’re on the club crew team. It’s not the same.”

“I never said it was.”

“You guys practice like twice a week for forty-five minutes.”

“What’s your point, CJ?”

“My point is the only reason you’re even still on this team is because Sam drags you to the practices.”

Josh took another bite of his bagel.

“Whatever,” he said finally. “At least I don’t have to do wind sprints.”

CJ groaned and dropped her head back in her hand.

“They really weren’t that bad, CJ,” Donna started.

“You’re a midfielder, you’re conditioned for that sort of torture. You willingly run like that during every game.”

“CJ, your legs are like nine feet long, you’re telling me you can’t run?” Josh joked.

CJ – apparently already done with Josh today and it wasn’t even 9am – shot him a death glare.

“What are you even doing here?” she asked as she shook her head. “You don’t eat breakfast.”

“Sure I do, I’m eating it right now,” Josh argued, wanting to avoid seeming like a complete human disaster in front of Donna.

“No, you don’t” CJ shot back. “You drink a cup of coffee, eat half a granola bar, and then wash that down with a second cup of coffee, all in the span of the ten minutes it takes you to walk from your dorm room to your first class.”

Josh furrowed his brow at the accurate assessment.

“Speaking of which,” CJ started, noting the time, “shouldn’t you be running late for something right about now?”

“No, Con Law doesn’t start for another-” Josh looked at his watch. “Shit.”

“Right on schedule,” CJ mused.

“I gotta go. See ya later CJ,” he started as he got up and swung his backpack over his shoulder.

He stopped for a second and looked at Donna.

“Bye,” he smiled.

“Bye,” she smiled back.

He dumped the bagel (with two bites taken out of it) in the trash but took the coffee to go. He found himself still smiling when he finally made it to the lecture hall with not a minute to spare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before you yell at me, and in case it's not obvious enough by the title, cj is MISLEAD okay donna does not have a crush on sam. do with that what you will.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first attempt at a college au and first attempt at a west wing au, so apologies in advance for all the ways i'm gonna screw this up. also let me know if you want me to include a list of the characters and all their majors in the next chapter for a reference.
> 
> thanks to jess for being my sounding board for this and letting me rant as a brainstorming process 
> 
> as always, comments fuel my ego
> 
> come hang on tumblr, you can find me at sam-loves-seb


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